Apparatus for extinguishing fires



1927. May 17' o. R. ERwIN APPARATUS FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRES Filed Nov. 4. `1s2o 2 Shoets-Sheot l 1 May 17, 1927.

'1,629,027 o. R. ERwlN APPARATUS FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRES Filed Nov. 4. 1920 2 sheets-sheet 2 Orlando RE'rw/im rasata yMier 17, 1922.4

UNITED STATES PATENT oFFicE.

oLANDo la EBWIN, onronnsr mms, NEW lvom@ assIeNoa r.ro romrrascnrtne conromTIoN, or NEW YORK, N. Y., A-conPonA'rIoN or DELAWARE.

APPARATUS non EXTINGUISBING 11ans.

. tion system operating upon the differencer in speci c gravities between chemical solutions and a-re extinguishing foam produced by their admixture and. functioning to deliver the foam to the surface of the burning li uid.

It has been the practice in apparatus o the kind' referred to, to provide two reservoirs; one containing a solution of a base and a foam producing substance, and the other containing a solution Vof an acid or acid salt, which solutions'are conducted through separate means to a mixing chamber and there upon admixture generate a foam and a gas noxious to fire, which foam and 'gas are conducted to Aa delivery mouth of the mixing ,head and there discharged over the burning surface of the liquid in the oil tank, the foam forming a blanket over the liquid which will not support 'combustion and which will smother the fire.

Inv use of apparatus of this kind it has' been the practice to provide means for placing the solutions under rpressure either by the provision of a chamber containing air under pressure or by the provislon of a. pumping system associatedwith the reser- 'voirs in order to obtain sufficient force to raise the mixing solutions 'and the generated foam to the'top of the tank, whichin many 4instances may be as high as 30 feet. One

"of the ,problems in connection with the extinguishing of fires of this nature hasl been the protection of isolated tanks for small properties where the `cost of a pumping system is prohibitive'. My present invention has for its main object the provision of a system for effectively protecting` such isolated tanks without the expense attached to 'a pumping system. Y y V It has beenl found that the reservoirs, mixing head and delivery mouth may: be so constructed and arranged that distribution of the noxious foam may be effected lwithout the use of any pressure system and may be effected simply 'by a. gravity system operating upon` the difference in specific gravity between the solutions and the resulting foam.

The primary object of the present inven-v 65 tion is, therefore, -to provide such a system- Application l111ml November 4, 1,950. Serial No. 421,684.

operating in this manner. A further 'object of my invention is to provide a system of the nature referred to which will operate automatically in the event of a fire. A still further object is to provide a novel solution delivery head applicable in an automatic system of the type referred to.

vTov the accomplishment of the foregoing and such Vother objects as may hereinafter appear, the invention consists in the elements and their relation one to the other as hereinafter particularly described and then sought to be defined inthe claims, refer'- ence being had to the accompanying drawings showing preferred embodiments of my invention and in which y Figure 1 is a plan viewt ofthe gravity distribution system,

Figure 2 is an elevational view ofthe same,

Fi ure 3 is an elevational view of a modified orm of the system with parts in section tions being conducted by gravity to the mixing chamber 7 through any suitable conducting means, such as pipes 8. These solutions I admix in the mixing chamber 7 to form a re extinguishing foam, which expands in said chamber and rises in the riser pipe 9 to a delivery mouth 10 situated at a relatively hi h elevation, the foam discharging through .t e delivery mouth into the oil tank 11.. The reservoirs .are located a few eet'from the ground, being supported on, platforms 12w which, in the form shown in vFigures `1 and '2, are about 8 feet in height. The height of the liquid in the reservoirs will seldom Abe more than20 feet, while the height' of the feet. In the event of a lire manual operation of a lever simultaneously controlling both valves,'permitting`the solutions vto flow to -themixing head by gravity; the foam being there produced by the admixture of the solutions and ex anding -,in the mixingl head, rises to a relat ely `high "elevation in the riser pipe, due to the difference in specific l'oo i oil tanks is in many instances as hi h as'30 A ,l operable valves 13 are opened, prefera ly byy lot gravity'between the solutions and the generated foam. y

Referring to the modification shown in Figures 3 and 4, the reservoirs 14 and 15 are located a few inches from the ground, the solutions in said reservoirs being conducted to a solution delivery head 1G, located several feet below the surface of the ground in a pitv 17. Surrounding this delivery head is a mixing chamber 18 communicating with a riser-pipe 19, which in turn is connected at the topofthe oil tank 20 with the delivery mouth-21. 'lhe delivery head 16 comprises two juxtaposed solutionchambers 22 and `24 and 25 respectivel 23 respectively, each -havinginlet openings 'connected respectively to thereservoirs a" and 14 byi any appropriate means, such as pipes 26 and 27. These chambers are provided with outlet openings normally sealed by breakable diaphragins of any desirable material, as for example of glass, 28 and 29 respectively,

- these diaphragms normally preventing the acid and basic solutions in said chambers from comixing. Guided over a pulley 30,

journalled at thc top of the riser pipe, is a cord, for example a bronze cord 31, to one end of which 1s connected a glass seal breaker '32, the otherfend of which is connected to any desirable part of the tank, "as shown at 31', a fusible link 32 forming part of-this cord. In order to permit easy access into the mixing chamber for renewing the glass diaphragms or for any other purpose, means is provided such as inanhead 33, forming a.'

`part of the mixing chamber 18. In this `form of the device, in the event of ire,;upon lthe fusing of linky 32, as will be apparent, the weight 32 will fall, breaking the glass diaphragms 28 and 29, permitting the solutions contained therein to flow in admixed relation into the mixing chamber 18. As in l the form shown in Figures 1 and 2 the solutions will be conducted by gravityyinto the mixing-chamber 18 and there the generated foam will expand, rising into the riser pipe 19 and being discharged at arelatively high elevation through t e delivery mouth 21, the rising of the foam being effected by the difference in specific gravity of the chemical solutions in the reservoirs and the foam produced in the mixing chamber.

The operation of the device will be apparentfrom the above description thereof.

The specific gravity of the foam is substantially about one-eighth to one-tenth the.

specic gravity of the solutions. A given #column of solution will more than support a the solution lines and allowing the chemicals to iow bygravity into the bottom of the riser pipe, 1 have been able to discharge a tremendous quantity of foam into the oil tanks and an amountv which hitherto could onlyY be discharged by a very large pump.

ll'hile I have shown specific embodiments of my invention, I do' not intend to be lim ited to the exact constructions shown, as it will be evident that various modifications maybe made without departing from the porting the solution reservoirs, these reser voirs being mounted for easy accessV forv charging and recharging, the reservoirs be-' ing located but a fewfeet fromrthe ground.- In this system, by opening the valves into spirit of the invention, defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a foam lire extinguishing apparatus, a delivery head, inlets thereinto for component .foam making solutions, a frangible diaphragmldividing the head into comp-artnients each having itsindividual supply in-' let, a frangible diaphragm closing the out-f let from the delivery head and a common breakerfor said diapliragms adapted on release to lbreak both` diaphragms to permit the mixture of the solutions and escape-of the mixture from the head.

2. A foam fire' extinguishing installation comprising in combination with an oil tank to be protected two solution chambers below the level of the top of the tank, a-riser to the top of the tank, a delivery head in the riser having separate compartments in coniinunication severally with the respective solution chambers and having frangible closure ldiaphragme and a releasable suspended common breaker for breaking both of said diaphragms to permitthe solutions to mix.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State ofA New York, this 30th day of October, A. D. 1920. Y

[ORLANDO R. ERWIN 

